NEWS

Clapham win Gauteng Kay Motsepe

19/Aug/2013 09:48

After a tense penalty shootout at the Muckleneuk Stadium, Mamelodi, on Saturday, Clapham High School beat Rosina Sedibane Secondary School to clinch the Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup Gauteng title, and the R100 000 prize money that goes with it. Both Clapham and Rosina Sedibane will now play in the national finals of the competition, in Durban, next month.

The majority of the Clapham players are part of the Mamelodi Sundowns Academy. They train at the club and interact with the Sundowns first team. The experience gained there played a big part in their winning the title. To cheer the boys on there was a large Sundowns contingent including coaches, players and administration staff, as well as the rest of the Clapham scholars.

Clapham eliminated the Gauteng defending champion, and last year’s national Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup winners, School of Excellence, beating them 2-0 in the first round of matches. Clapham have not lost a single game in the Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup tournament so far this year.

There were some surprises on Saturday, one being Sunwood Park High School, who competed in the provincial finals for the first time, and took the bronze medals. The school is based in Boksburg and houses the Deamos Academy, which was started in 2010 by international players, including Patrick Vieira currently a development manager at Manchester City. The school has a strong connection to France and, in fact, some of the players are going to a training camp there in September and will be watched by scouts from all over the world.

Another school playing for the first time in the tournament was Kibler Park’s Waterstone High School. The school is relatively new and only started playing soccer last year. They don’t have an under-19 team yet, so sent their u-16s to the tournament. Their coach, Eoin Fray is from Ireland. He has a Uefa Level A coaching certificate and saw an advert for the coaching position at Waterstone on the FAI Academy website in Ireland. He applied from Ireland, got the job and has been with the team since January.

It is his first time in SA and he hopes to use his experience from Ireland to build the team. The players are talented, but not tactically aware and they lack technique. “The qualifiers were easy”, he said. “The teams we played were weak and we weren’t sure how we would go in the provincial finals. We got beaten quite convincingly and I realise we are inexperienced and I am going to have to work on their confidence. I’m obviously disappointed at not winning a game, but it is a start and I now know what SA football is all about and next year we’ll be back with a completely different team. It’s been an excellent experience for the players.”